Anna's heart pounded against her ribs as she stepped out of the capsule chamber.
The corridor stretched before her, lit by emergency lights that flickered weakly. Her bare feet pressed against cold metal flooring, each step echoing in the silence. She hadn't bothered with shoes. She hadn't bothered with anything except the desperate need to see.
To know.
To understand what had become of her world.
Hundreds of years, her ancestor had said.
Her hands trembled at her sides.
Every shadow in the corridor made her flinch. Every distant creak of settling metal made her gravity abilities pulse involuntarily, sending tiny cracks spider-webbing across the walls beside her.
Monsters could be anywhere.
Humanity could be extinct.
She might be walking into a world already conquered.
Anna pressed forward, her breathing shallow. The emergency stairs leading upward seemed endless. Floor after floor she climbed, her legs burning, her mind racing with worst-case scenarios.
